Francine Kaufman, a past national president of the American Diabetes Association, tells a personal story from 1995, one of the first times she had seen a child with type 2 diabetes. Kaufman says that this thirteen year old girl had a blood sugar level five times higher than normal for a young teen, weighed 267 pounds, and was only just over five feet tall. Kaufman also says that the girl had been drinking a lot of juice and soda throughout her life, obtained a diet which consisted of fried foods, candy bars, and meals from fast food restaurants, had no meaningful physical education courses in her school curriculum, and had nowhere safe to play in her neighborhood. (1:14)

 

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The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing today on “Childhood Obesity: The Declining Health of America’s Next Generation.” Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), called the “champion of children” by Sen. Thomas Harkin (D-Iowa), presided over the hearing and said that the childhood obesity epidemic is one of the most urgent threats to American children. Dodd explained that “our children’s generation” may be the fist in the modern era to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. He also said that nearly one out of every three American children are obese or are at risk of becoming obese and children are increasingly being diagnosed with type 2, “adult-onset” diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. (more…)